Oakvale
Oakvale is a tiny, under developed, and new nation with citizens primarily of Caucasian ethnicity whose religion is Buddhism. It is a backwards nation when it comes to technology and many refer to it unkindly as a 'Third World Nation'. Its citizens pay moderately high tax rates and they are somewhat unhappy in their work environments as a result. History Pre-Sovereignty Phoenix Friday On Thursday October 4, 2007, the residents of Tillsonburg were finally fed up with the nonsense coming from the Canadian federal and provincial governments, and went to the municipal polls to vote for sovereignty; an act that has never before taken place on North American soil. Each resident was given one ballot, and each ballot required four votes. One vote would decide whether to separate, the second vote would decide what governing system should be used if separation occurred, third would elect the first Prime Minister of the new nation, and the fourth would decide the name of the new nation. The polls were open from 9:00am in the morning until 9:00pm at night. The final count came in at midnight on Friday October 5 with an unprecedented 92% in favour of separation, 86% in favour of a first-past-the-post federal government, 72% in favour of calling the nation Oakvale, and a 61% majority victory for the Phoenix Party. Laverick Phoenix and his Phoenix Party were sworn into parliament an hour later and immediately began writing up a demand to the Government of Canada for their new nation's sovereignty. The official proclamation of sovereignty occurred at 2:53am and the day officially became known as Phoenix Friday. The day however proved to be both a blessing and a curse for the new nation. When it's citizens awoke for the first time they were all distraught to discover that they were fired from their jobs overnight. The nation's unemployment rate skyrocketed to 99% owing to the fact that all businesses were still Canadian owned and forced to shut down their Tillsonburg branches by the Canadian government for illegal international practises. Phoenix was quick to act and told all citizens to send there Canadian currency to the federal government in exchange for credits. These credits would become the temporary currency for Oakvale. Phoenix then used the gathered Canadian currency to buy all the Canadian corporate owned land within Oakvale, with the intention of selling the land to local small businesses to set up larger shop. The plan backfired when the citizens of Oakvale lost faith in the credit value and deemed it worthless. One by one they began to pack their belongings and move in with their relatives within Canada, to declare bankruptcy. By the end of the night over 99% of Oakvale's population emigrated back into Canada leaving only 68 loyalists behind, mainly made up of family members of the Phoenix Party. Post Soveriegnty Twenty-two of the remaining Oakvale citizens were immediately recruited into the Armed Forces as infantry to police the nation during it's first declared national emergency. On top of that the government rushed the replacing of the credit system with it's newly minted florin currency and offered government subsidies to the newly created rubber and uranium production industries. The government then confiscated all abandoned personal belongings and sold them to Canadian auctioneers for more Canadian currency to base the florin. Following this, on Saturday the 6th Oakvale citizens began offering to sell many of their electronics to the Oakvale government in return for additional florins, and the Oakvale government once again sold it for more Canadian currency. This time it used the currency to purchase Canadian farmland outside of Tillsonburg which was suspected to sit upon major deposits of uranium. While gaining land area and uranium reserves, the action also had a negative effect as it sent the nation a century backwards in technology. Over the next week the Phoenix' would begin taxing citizens 20% of their income to raise money to repair the nations infrastructure. The tax would be lowered to 15% on Tuesday the 9th creating excitement that the government may have finally found a buyer for their rubber and uranium resources. Others believed the tax deduction was the result of people returning to Oakvale for work in the two new up-and-coming industries. The answer however came later on in the day when Laverick Phoenix announced that Oakvale had been accepted into the North Atlantic Defense Coalition, and they were expecting a large amount of aid to help them out of their desperate time. North Atlantic Defense Coalition Fearing the vulnerability of the nation they had created and were entrusted to protect, the Phoenix Party immediately applied for membership to the North Atlantic Defense Coalition on October 5, 2007. If accepted into the coalition the nation would be eligible for emergency aid in the form of $300,000 and military assistance if required. The announcement on October 9 of that year that the coalitions charter had been signed was warmly welcomed by all of Oakvale, as it meant a new hope in the fight against their national depression and protection against military attacks. News of the charter signing spread, and old Tillsonburg residents began returning to their abandoned property. National flag and anthem On Tuesday October 9, 2007 the federal government made a proposal to decide on a new national flag and anthem. Government and politics Oakvale allows its citizens to protest their government but uses a strong police force to monitor the proceedings and arrest lawbreakers. Oakvale believes in the freedom of speech and feels that it is every citizen's right to speak freely about their government. Foreign relations and military The government gives foreign aid when it can, but looks to take care of its own people first. Oakvale will trade with other nations with questionable ethical treatment of their citizens but prefers to keep such trade agreements a secret. It has an open border policy, but in order for immigrants to remain in the country they will have to become citizens first. Although the nation's main resource is uranium, it refuses to develop it into nuclear power, and will only trade it will nations who sign off on nuclear weapons. Health care Plans are on the way within Oakvale to open new rehabilitation centres across the nation and educate its citizens of the dangers of drug use. Education Industry and economy Traditionally while a part of Canada, the local economies within Oakvale's landmass were based on the agricultural and automotive industries. Since the events of Phoenix Friday however, Oakvale has become one of the worlds poorest nations. Although indeed it's economy is rapidly growing through the production of rubber and newly discovered uranium under the tobacco farms outlining Old Tillsonburg. While the rubber and uranium industries build themselves to the point where they can sustain the nation's necessary progress, Oakvale relies on its last remaining pre-Phoenix Friday industry; Ottawa Fibre Inc. OFI still manages to maintain itself through the recycling of glass into home insulation. OFI's unusual success has spawned conspiracies as to how it receives its supply of glass, and many have linked it to the mysterious disappearance of windows from abandoned residential and commercial properties. Controversial debates among the public have also sprouted regarding the fact that OFI is owned and operated by a corporation in Canada's capital city of Ottawa. They demand to know why all other Canadian companies were forced to abandon Oakvale, while OFI was allowed to remain. Both the Canadian and Oakvalian governments refuse to comment on the matter. Tourism Culture Recreation Language English is the official language of Oakvale, appearing on all signs and government notices. However, a debate is currently in parliament in regards to having no official national language and to allow individual communities to decide on their own official languages. Religion Although Oakvale has no official religion by law, the federal government encourages people to consider the teachings of any religion that promotes love for humanity, high value given to learning, devotion to family and ancestors, peace, justice, and respect for traditional culture. Transportation Media The Oakvaler The first and only nation-wide newspaper for Oakvale was founded on October 8, 2007 amiss public ridicule that it was a waste of money. The public belief at the time was that word of mouth would travel faster than the paper, since the national population was so small. Despite the negative criticism at first, The Oakvaler did manage to sell itself with great success by digging deep into international news and slandering the Canadian government through humorous satire. Category:Nations